President orders stern action against striking public workers

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak on Saturday called for stern
action against striking public workers, calling their demands unreasonable and
selfish.

The bold remarks came amid a walkout by unionized workers at the state-owned
Korea Railroad, which began Thursday and has paralyzed freight services.
"We must not meet the terms of such a union," the president said at a government
workshop attended by some 130 ministers and heads of state-run businesses.
"A strike by the union members of a public business, who are guaranteed of
lifetime employment, cannot be understood by the people," the president said,
"and it must not be understood especially at a time when hundreds of thousands of
our young people are suffering because they cannot find jobs."
Lee was quoted by his spokeswoman, Kim Eun-hye, as saying that despite signs of
an economic recovery it is no time to be complacent.
"Changes made by you and your organizations will become the deciding factor of
our success or failure in taking the post-crisis leadership in the world," the
president said.
"It will be difficult to change their traditional way of things or surroundings,
but I ask you to work with a sense of responsibility to create jobs and revive
our economy."
bdk@yna.co.kr
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